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BookmarkScienceDaily (June 25, 2009) — Researchers led by Drs. James F. George and Anupam Agarwal at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have found that carbon monoxide (CO) can protect against arterial clotting in mice.
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Carbon monoxide poisoning is extremely toxic; exposure prevents oxygen delivery to body tissues and is often fatal. However, inflamed or injured tissues upregulate heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), a protein that both protects cells and produces CO, suggesting that low levels of CO may have protective effects.
To determine if HO-1 and CO can protect against arterial clotting, Chen et al examined clotting mechanisms in mice that received arterial transplants. Absence of HO-1 in these mice resulted in significant mortality due to arterial clotting; however, treatment with a CO-releasing molecule both decreased clotting and improved survival.
Drs. George, Agarwal, and colleagues conclude that HO-1/CO plays an "important role …[in] protection against vascular arterial thrombosis in murine aortic allotransplantation.
Journal reference:
- Chen B, Guo L, Fan C, Bolisetty S, Joseph R, Wright MM, Agarwal A, George JF. Carbon Monoxide Rescues Heme Oxygenase-1-deficient Mice from Arterial Thrombosis in Allogeneic Aortic Transplantation. Am J Pathol, 2009, 174: 2832-2839
